


The Story of Thirteen

by OkieDokieDancer



Category: Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Cybertron origin, Gen, Not Beta Read, the shenanigans of mystic revered beings, the thirteen primes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-04
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-15 19:02:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29194269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OkieDokieDancer/pseuds/OkieDokieDancer
Summary: Defeat the great destroyer Unicron that was their mission. Yeah Been there done that, now what? This is the story of the events post defeating Unicron as the 13 try to figure out their place and purpose in life and cause problems in doing so and fix them with a whole wad of duct tape and glue. You'd think that a group held in such high regard would have everything figured out.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 5





	1. Prologue; Aftermath

**Author's Note:**

> The original concept that lead to the creation of this story was thought up with a friend after watching [redacted because spoilers] . This story is ment as a background/prequel for that idea/story and was planned out solely by myself.  
> btw Solus, Nexus and Quintus are all female in this fic/universe because having one singular girl bot has always felt a bit silly to me.

The monstrous figure before them bellowed a screeching roar. Its spindly skeletal wings stretched far and wide, reaching to touch the edges of the galaxy. The creatures monstrous domelike head glared its glowing chartreuse eyes at the thirteen smaller mechanical beings before him.

“This is it. The final strike. Ready?” asked the light blue and white smaller being as he placed his hand over the shoulder of one of his comrades.

“Since the light gave me life.” Replied the other surely as he hoisted a giant cannon like weapon directly at the terrifying creature before them. 

“Fire.”

.

.

.

Some short while later…

The dusky mauve mechanical being inspected a floating piece of debris as it floated by. It was hard to determine which part of the now vanquished monster it had once belonged to. The metal lump seemed to have been once burnt yellow colour, so maybe it was a part of the dark entity’s bony wings? Or perhaps one of its impressive curved horns? It mattered not what body part it originated from, but the elegant mechanical being couldn’t help think about how things pieced together. But this was the remains of her enemy. She tightened her grip on her hammer and with a mighty swing smashed the piece into further smithereens.

That was all she and her kin had been doing after the euphoric shock of defeating the chaos bringer settled down. Smashing the larger of the broken pieces into near oblivion. Initially she’d suggested they’d gather all his parts and smelt them down into something useful. But their young leader was opposed in fear that they may unwittingly recreate the monster. They were all young. It had not been long since the mighty light bringer brought him to life, brought all of them to life. She could still remember it like it was yesterday. Perhaps it was yesterday? She couldn’t be sure, her time up till now had been spent battling the Great Devourer. The shared goal that her and her kin were all brought online with. But with that done what was there to do now? Just how long had they been fighting the chaos bringer? A question to pose to her kin, surely one would have the answers.

She drifted around smashing the remaining larger pieces into almost nothing before taking a moment to admire her handiwork. The deep nothing of space twinkled with countless glittering stars. The tiny metallic shards and dust of their advisory adding to the glimmer. Yes, this was sufficient.

With a glance around she saw one of her kin, no doubt finished with his sector too. Raising a slender metal hand, she waved him down with a smile. “Megatronus!” She called out; her voice clear as a bell.

The bulky grey and black being halted in his path at her voice. “Solus!” He greeted in return. “I see you’ve made quick work of your sector.”

As he drifted up, she took his hand. Space could be tedious to hold a conversation when the other party kept floating away.

“Just finished.” Beamed Solus proudly as her companion gazed around.

“Very impressive. And you said you weren’t to warrior type.”

“Smashing bits of lifeless metal is very different from fighting a planet sized destroyer of all things decent.” She pointed out with a laugh.

“Very true. Yet I’ve just come from assisting Alchemist with his sector.”

Solus chuckled lightly “Not everyone has a knack for smashing things to bits. His skills lie elsewhere.”

Megatronus shared her laughter as he recalled how Alchemist struggled further destroying the parts of the Chaos Bringer.

“Shall we meet up with Prima and the others now? If I’m done, then the others must surely have finished their task.”

“Indeed.” Responded the much bulkier mechanoid holding out his arm for Solus to take. “Shall we?”

.

.

.

“What now?” Quizzed the dull gold plated Adaptus. “We beat the big bad and it’s not like we were given instructions on what to do after.” His clawed hands spun in their sockets as the metal fixtures on his back struggled to make up their mind whether they wanted to be a pair of wings or boat turbines.

“Maybe we did not finish our task; hence why we have yet to receive a new duty?” suggested Micronus, the smallest of their fellowship, as he finished climbing atop the broad shoulders of Megatronus where he sat perched like a pirates parrot.

The largest of their fellowship, the navy and crimson Nexus tilted her head “YOU THINK THAT A NEW SET OF INSTRUCTIONS WOULD SIMPLY BE BESTOWED UPON US JUST LIKE THAT?” Thundered Nexus. Although she towered above them all and lacked an inside voice, she was not intimidating.

“Well yes. When we were brought to life, we all heard the task being told to us. I figured that we’d just get a new one.” Replied the smallest of their kin.

Adaptus’s folded his arms (His hands now a pair of claws) and let out a staticky hum. “That sounds like a most dull life.”

“WHATEVER DUTY IS TASKED UPON US WE MUST COMPLETE IT!” Replied Nexus, her visored brow shifting to a frown.

“So we wait here indefinitely?!” Adaptus’s face contorted into something akin to a scowl.

“A new task will not be bestowed upon us.”

The 12 beings turned their head towards the deep slow voice of Vector.

Their unofficially appointed leader, Prima, who had been listening intently to his comrade’s conversation, moved to place a hand on Vector’s white and gold forearm. “My friend what did you see?”

Vector turned his crimson helm to the nebulous void far away above them as if the cloud held some enigmatic answer that only he could see. “They who tasked us to defeat the Chaos Bringer will not utter again with their own voice. We were created to complete a task that could not be finished alone. They are us and we are them. Our future resides in our endowment and the guidance of the light’s memory.”

There was a momentary pregnant pause before Adaptus chirped up with a shake of his head. “That’s all very nice. But. What. Does. That. Even. Mean? ‘ _Mr I can see time_.’ You’d think you’d give us a clearer answer!”

Vector looked taken aback. “Was I not clear enough?” He stuttered.

“Hardly” replied Adaptus flatly. Vector looked to Prima, for guidance and possibly reassurance.

The light blue and white gently patted the others arm. “What Vector means is that our origin will no longer commune with us and that the instructions left behind to defeat the Chaos Bringer was their last will. Whatever we do now will be of our own accord for we are individual beings now. But we may foster a prosperous future using our abilities and our…” He looked over his shoulder at the white blade sheathed upon his back. “…magic thingies.”

Behind Nexus, Quintus facepalmed. “We have got to think of a better name than magic thingies.” She sighed shaking her head. A murmur of agreement rippled among a couple of the others.

“Solus! You’re the expert on making things. What should we call our…” Quintus cringed “Magic thingies?” It was such a juvenile and unsophisticated label to give their uniquely powerful and mystic items of awe.

Solus blinked her bright yellow optics. “Oh?” She exclaimed realising she’d been put on the spotlight. “Well let’s see… We have the Star Saber, Leigian Darts and Requiem Blaster which are all weapons. Vector’s Time Blades, my Creation Hammer and Nemesis’s Doom Shield which are sort of weapons though not their primary function. Then we have the Chimera Stone, Enigma of Combination, Emberstone, the Analysis Lenses, Triptych Mask, and Adaptus’s Transformation Cog which all have widely varying powers and abilities. Lastly, we have Alpha Trion’s Cyber Key which we have yet to figure out its function.” She tilted her head gingerly at Alpha Trion in question. “Any luck so far in that mystery?”

Alpha Trion responded with a shake of his head.

“Well seeing how all the artifacts are of varying classifications-”

Quintus raised a slander clawed hand. “Stop. Rewind. What was that word you just used?”

“Classifications?”

“No. The other one.”

“Artifacts?”

“Yes. That one. We’re calling the magic thingies the artifacts now. End of discussion. And Prima! You’re no longer allowed to name things.”

Solus looked towards Prima who cringed slightly in guilt and shrugged in agreement to Quintus’s claim. Solus gazed down to the hammer hooked to her hip. While they could do better than calling them artifacts it was collectively agreed it was a marginal step up from ‘ _magic thingies’_.

“I believe my fellow kin” began Prima slowly as the others quickly brought the daydreaming Onyx up to speed on the name change. “we may have found our next task.”

Adaptus raised a newly formed optic ridge over the singular bright light in the middle of his face which formed something like an eye “Renaming things?” he gawked sceptically.

“No! No!” exclaimed Prima quickly waving his hands. “Deducing the function of Alpha Trion’s artifact!”

“How exciting.” Deadpanned Adaptus in a tone so full of sarcasm that you could feel him roll his currently non-existent eye. Megatronus chuckled at their impatient comrade’s cynicism as he lifted Micronus off his shoulder “It might be. Once we figure out what it does.”

“Initially I’d intended to part ways and forge my own path provided there was no need for my presence, but I’ll stick around to see what’s the deal with Trion’s Key.” Purred Liege Maximo tossing his head. “Besides who knows what sort of trouble you’d get into without my beauty and genius to guide you to victory?”

“I’m pretty sure we can manage without your radiant beauty.” Snickered Adaptus his arms rotating around and over his shoulders. Liege Maximo was taken aback with a gasp. He put a hand to his chest and the other to his forehead. “EXCUSE ME! Do you happen to know exactly how hard it is to maintain this gorgeous form?!”

“Oh great! There he goes again.” Grumbled Nemesis as he rolled his ruby coloured optics. Quintus snickered beside him.

“And all that dust from the Unmaker! Do you KNOW how LONG I spent cleaning out bits of him from under my armour! DO YOU?! Imagine! UNMAKER DIRT! In your inner wires and working” Liege Maximo shivered, repulsed by the haunted memory.

“I think we all can Maximo.” Replied Alchemist dryly as he wiped tiny flecks of space grit from his lenses. He’d personally be glad when they move to a spot in space with less floating dirt. An asteroid floating in the void of space was really no place for a discussion.

Nexus hunched down to peer at the vain green and gold. “YOU MISSED A SPOT.” She remarked.

“WHAT?!” shrieked Liege Maximo scanning his spotless plating completely unaware to the continued sniggering from Quintus and Nemesis, or the thumbs up from Adaptus to Nexus.

Prima watched his companions with a mixture of fondness and exasperation. A sensation he would be feeling a great deal in the future to come, not that he knew of course. This was his kin and he wouldn’t trade it for the world. Alpha Trion crept up beside him placing a hand over his shoulder “You should do something. Before it gets out of hand” He whispered; and he was right. Liege Maximo was their strategist and if anyone knew how to dish out a large helping of revenge it would be him. And the last thing they needed so soon after the Chaos Bringer was to deal with the tantrum of someone who could outfox all 12 of them if he put his whole mind to it.

“Peace my kin, Peace. Nexus you know better than to tease Liege Maximo. Besides we have a new task, a new focus that must be completed. To unlock the secrets of Alpha Trion’s key. Will everyone partake?” A murmur of agreements and nods rippled thought the watchful 12, with Liege Maximo giving Nexus a vengeful elbow to her knee. Their squabble had been truced and it lightened Prima’s chest, his spark, his soul to see his kin so together.

The ever creative Solus.

The wise and mysterious Vector.

The methodical knowledge-hungry Quintus.

The strong and devote Megatronus.

The kind and sensitive Onyx.

The melodramatic strategist Liege Maximo.

The ever changing Adaptus.

The watchful Alpha Trion.

The just Micronus

The tempered Alchemist.

The cautious Nemesis

The unbendingly loyal Nexus

And himself.

The thirteen they were and the thirteen they will be. Even though the light bringer, their origin had given them no further instructions, they would find their way to forge their new path so long as they were together.

“Well I’m glad that we’ve all come to some form of solution” Began Adaptus “But I think we should find a better spot to have our little talks. This asteroid’s currently heading for a collision course… with that.” he pointed to a rapidly oncoming rock zooming up behind him.

Prima looked at the swiftly approaching asteroid, then to Adaptus. “And you didn’t think to mention this sooner?!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The don't have the title of Prime attached to their names just yet. That will be given to them later on down the timeline.


	2. This moon is boring

It was more like a staff than a key. But they didn’t get to choose the names of their artifacts. The names were known to them to moment they laid their freshly forged optics on them. Hence why they were all doubtful the rod was to be any sort of weapon and was reconfirmed upon further analysis by Solus.

Alchemist gazed over the slender platinum coloured metal rod that was somehow technically key, maybe its name was a clue to its true nature. He adjusted his lenses one again hoping his own artifact would highlight some missed detail. But nothing. The key was roughly size of two and a half Micronus’s tall meaning it came just up to Alpha Trion’s impressive moustache. The upper staff end had an odd rectangular frame with the main shaft running directly thought the centre. The very top was a small disk, upon which, sat an iridescent hued sphere with a protruding sharp spike jutting out at the top. Along the main length of the key were thin circuit line like patterns that made one’s eyes go funny if you look at them too long.

A little away sat Solus and Quintus as they discussed, or on Quintus’s part, bickered, about the patterns along the key and the data readings collected from a funny little computer Solus crafted from a lump of flying meteor.

“It _can’t_ be a weapon,” Stressed Solus her voice strained with forced patience. “Just look at its composition! Nexus sat on it, it would break.”

“If Nexus sat on _anything_ of a similar structure it would break. Be it weapon or ornament.” Sneered Quintus haughtily as she smoothened the delicate high collar like structure around her neck.

Alchemist could see this wasn’t going anywhere productive and decided to nip it while he still could.

“Why don’t we have a change of scenery to clear our heads? Onyx said there was a nice spot on the south side of the moon?” In truth the only interesting thing south the moon was a weird shaped rock that looked like Megatronus squatting with his arms raised to the sky, but at least it was something. Solus gave him an appreciative smile as Quintus responded with a disgruntled begrudging shrug.

Alchemist clipped the key to his back and packed up the little tablet he’d been using to make notes (another of Solus’s creations). “It’s be nice if we had a more permanent base.” He said to no one in particular, Solus hummed in agreement. They and their companions had been travelling the stars for an indefinite amount of time. Briefly parting ways to explore and gather information before regrouping on some nearby moon or planet to share their findings before moving to a new sector in space. It was quite the nomadic lifestyle.

“Why would you want to tie yourself down to one place?” questioned Quintus as she flicked a bit of grey-blue moon dust off one of her tentacle like limbs. “We have the whole galaxy and more so to explore and learn about. Settle down and we learn everything about there is to the place in a full orbit. Then what do we do? Twiddle our fingers as we slowly succumb to idle madness?”

Alchemist gave her a sympathetic smile. Quintus was the most knowledge hungry of the 13 of them, her impatience only just rivalling Adaptus’s. “It would be nice to not have to pack up our equipment so often,” He explained “And having a base wouldn’t tie us down. If anything it could be a place where we store our findings instead of carrying them around for I dare say Adaptus can create only so many hands to hold his growing ‘weird rock collection’ before he runs out of himself to make more hands.”

“Or he becomes one big hand?” Suggested Solus.

Quintus tapped her chin thoughtfully regarding Alchemist’s words. He didn’t expect her to agree with him; she wasn’t the type to be dissuaded from her opinion. So he was more than surprised (and confused) when he heard her admit “You have a point.”

“Pardon?” He said raising his large optic brows in surprise.

“I’m not saying it again! But when reflection on some of the civilisations we’ve observed there would be a degree of merit to have a base of operations.” She folded her arms in a huff and turned her hear to avoid eye contact with her companions.

Solus, ignoring Quintus’s struggling ego, clapped her hands together excitedly “Think of what we could build! Not just form an equipment standpoint but an architectural! That last planet I was on with Liege Maximo and Nexus had some amazing dome structures! Why there was this one ellipsoidal dome that was-”

She stopped when she saw the look on Quintus’s face which conveyed exactly how much, or rather how little, she was interested in the domes, ellipsoidal or otherwise.

Giving Solus a comforting pat on the shoulder Alchemist gave Quintus a non-judgemental smile. “Well now we know what Solus would do if we had our own base. What about you?”

Quintus’s 2 sets of eyes flickered thoughtfully “Well it’s impossible to give a definitive answer without appropriate consideration first,” She snuck a glance and saw Alchemists expression matched that of Prima’s when Liege Maximo and Nexus argued, exasperated and tired, but mostly exasperated. “I supposed I could study more about the make-up of organic and mechanical life.” She added quickly.

“Are we planet hunting as well as figuring out the key now?” quizzed Solus eagerly.

“That’s not for only us to decide. We are but 3 of 13,” Chuckled Alchemist “What say we pop over to this moon’s planet instead and surprise the others early?”

“I’m down for that,” sniffed Quintus “One bit of moon is generally the same as another.”

.

.

.

“This planet’s just as boring as it’s moon,” Sniffed Quintus upon their decent. “Rock, a bit of dirt…oh look there’s a rock that looks like Onyx when he’s sitting down. That’s different.”

“There’s a rock that looks like Onyx on at least every planet,” Chuckled Prima as he greeted the newly arrived trio. “I saw you coming so I came ahead. I’m little use when it comes to uninhabited planets. No one to negotiate with.” He let out slightly awkward laugh as he acknowledged his lack of scientific ability.

“Oh please Prima! It doesn’t take a genius to tell you there isn’t much of interest here,” huffed Quintus still disappointed by the lack of variety of the planet. “The only outstanding difference from it’s moon is it’s colour!” She eyed the ground critically as if to blame it for not being more interesting.

“It is a lovely shade of goldenrod.” Commented Solus trying to counter Quintus’s negativity.

“It actually changes to a dusty purple on the dark side of the planet,” Added Prima “Something about the sunlight and the properties of rock…I don’t quite understand it.” He laughed bashfully and Alchemist clapped him on the back. “How many times do we have to tell you Prima that we don’t all need to be the scientific type. Sometimes we need people that can fight, care, joke and tell stories. And sometimes we need people who are leaders. We don’t have to be everything when we have each other to pull us up.” With an appreciative smile from Prima, Quintus let out another grumble of dismay as she saw a spec rapidly approaching from the horizon.

“Ughhhhhhhhhhhh. And sometimes we need imbeciles to remind us what we’d be without intellect.”

There, over the horizon, came a zooming Adaptus in a form that was not quite a jet plane and not quite a helicopter, his dull gold armour glinting in the sunlight.

“Whad up?” He asked swerving to a halt, sending a cloud of yellowish dust towards the four and transforming into his more typical bipedal form.

Solus sneezed a puff of gold dust “The moon.” She wheezed.

“Well I just finished a race around the planet with Nexus and now we can finally settle who’s the fastest of us,” He straightened himself with smug pride. “It’s me but the way. In case you didn’t get it.”

“Such imperative trivia.”

Alchemist shot Quintus an exasperated expression that said. _‘Play nice?!’_ To which Quintus folded her arms in a sulky huff. Alchemist didn’t know how many times he had to gently scold his fellow 13 daily (Quintus, Liege Maximo, Nexus and Adaptus being the main culprits), but if it helped take a small weight off Prima’s shoulders then he’d gladly do it as many times needed.

“I’d like to say the others will be here in a moment, but you know how slow they all are,” Adaptus continued to ramble on about his speed and the others slowness with the others only half-listening.

“Oh hey! Any luck with A3’s stick?”

That caught their attention.

“No. Not yet.” Admitted Solus.

“There is a section of code I was able to match from one of the circuit nodes to a portion of our coding, but everything else is still garble. I hypothesise that it’s just a coincidence seeing we all share the same origin, even the artifacts.”

“Well that’s still something!” said Prima encouragingly.

“I feel we may be taking things too technically,” added Alchemist “Instead of constantly analysing the staff maybe we should do something a little more ‘hands on’ with it.”

“But we don’t know what it’s capable of!” Argued Quintus which had been the main argument point for not doing any field tests with the key prior. With the sheer destructive power of something like the requiem blaster among the artifacts (which had blown up a small moon upon initial firing), it had made the 13 more than a little cautious about testing the key’s potential.

“And we’ve made little progress in understanding it. It’s time to change tactics.” Replied Alchemist. 

“Point taken.” Mumbled Quintus.

“Well this planet is quite uninhabited. I’d say it’d make the perfect testing grounds if you all agree?” Suggested Prima as he found another patch of yellow dirt on his shoulder he missed in the initial dusting. “Also, Adaptus, please be more careful when you fly about. Especially around Liege Maximo.”

.

.

.

As the artifact belonged to Alpha Trion the rest of the 13 agreed it should be him to test out the key. So there he stood. Alone in the setting sun in the middle of a pebbly plane. Rocks shifting through yellow and magenta hues in the twilight. His companions had taken refuge behind either a large formation of rocks or in a trench beside which was dug out by Megatronus, Nexus and Onyx some distance away (they were a tad too large to fit behind the rocks). Alchemist personally felt it was a bit of an extreme measure but then he remembered the fate of the poor moon at the hands of Megatronus’s Requiem Blaster.

“Wave it around!” Called Liege Maximo from behind the rocks. Alpha Trion gave him a sceptic look but obliged. Giving the key/staff a pathetic jiggle from side to side.

“That’s not waving that’s shaking!” Called Adaptus. “You’re doing it wrong!”

Prima shushed him.

Alchemist watched intently as Alpha Trion gave the staff a more vigorous wave. Despite the artifact belonging to Alpha Trion, he had little to do with the investigation of the Cyber Key and maybe that was their mistake for only Solus could properly wield the Creation Hammer and only Megatronus had the strength to handle the Requiem Blaster. The realisation was embarrassingly obvious.

“TRY DANCING!” boomed Nexus, still struggling to find her inside voice.

“DO A FLIP!” Added Quintus. Alchemist shot her a baffled look which she responded with a shrug.

Alpha Trion did not do a flip. He did however do a jump as he continued to wave the key around as nothing much happened.

“Try a cartwheel!”

“Hold it in your mouth in between your teeth!”

“Maybe it’s upside-down? TURN IT UPSIDE-DOWN!”

The peanut gallery continued to shout suggestions to their red-violet kin who was beginning to lose his seemingly limitless patience. Alchemist watched as Alpha Trion’s grip on the Key tightened. “Oh dear.” Whispered Onyx noticing the action too.

“Alright. THAT’S ENOUGH!” roared Alpha Trion as he raised the key high and slammed it into the ground with tremendous irate fuelled might.

All Alchemist remembered in that moment was a flash of white light bursting from the impact point where the staff hit the ground and shockwave rippling through the planet knocking him off his feet. He saw the dark of the sky deep and forever as was quickly replaced by a blinding shine.


	3. The totally glamourous and amazing creation of Cybertron part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Made the glorious mistake of reading Quintus’s voice as Yzma’s from The Emperors New Groove and now it's stuck.

Liege Maximo wearily blinked his red optics as he waved a disoriented hand and uselessly. Was he standing? Not he was lying down. And there was a weight pinning him to the ground. His vision, finally cleared of the blurr, focused on the familiar navy and crimson form upon him.

“NEXUS!” He screeched feebly “GET OFF ME!” His arms scrambled to shove the largest of his kin off him to no avail. The giant woman stirred in her daze, vizor flickering. She sluggishly moved her leg in response to Liege Maximo’s demands and as a result squished Liege Maximo’s head into the ground.

“NEHEMKSUUSSS!” Came his muffled cry of distress from beneath her monstrous leg. Onyx, who was only just shaking away the dizziness saw his kin’s plight. He steadily rose upon his equine legs and stretched his metal wings which has been squashed under his own body.

“Oh dear! Nexus you’re squashing Maximo’s face!”

“Ughhhhhhh” was the response.

Onyx shambled over to the fallen Liege Maximo and gingerly removed Nexus’s leg from his face. The horned green and gold let out a desperate gasp. Not that he was suffocating or anything. The 13 had quickly found they didn’t really require air to breathe. But it did mess up their internal fans when their primary vents and exhausts were blocked- or smothered by the leg of one’s kin. Being the second largest of the said kin, Onxy was able to roll Nexus off Liege Maximo with relative ease. Now free, Onyx regarded his kin.

“Are you alright?” He asked voice full of concern. Liege Maximo let out a long low wheeze. “What do you think?” Onyx crouched down and gently lifted him up. “Oh dear.” He said as he examined the other in his arms. “Oh Dear oh dear you’re rather dented! But don’t worry! You still look nice! we’ll straighten it out it no time!”

“Onyx please you can put me down.” Said Liege Maximo flatly. Frankly while the state of his appearance was concerning there were more important matters at hand if one could believe it. He looked down at Nexus, the joints around her shoulders and upper thighs started to shift and turn as she disassembled her giant form into 5 smaller units, each identical to each other and sitting up blinking at him, Onyx, the rest of their kin and their present surroundings which was looking very different from what it was before.

“Where are we?” asked one of the Nexuses finally finding her inside voice now that she was a fifth of her usual combined size.

It was only at this moment that Liege Maximo became aware of the vastly different surroundings. Gone were the rocky yellow and magenta ground and in place was a smooth metallic surface. Its dull golden lustre shining in the new days sun. Just how long were they unconscious?

Liege Maximo scrambled out of Onyx’s arms and dropped to the floor with a less than graceful splat. He gaped at the ground and gave it a knock with the knuckles of his hand, the blurry outline of his being reflected in the golden metal, a small mercy he didn’t have to lok at how dented he was. But this couldn’t be the same planet! He looked over to Onyx trying to rouse Megatronus and the Nexuses doing the same to the rest of their kin. Liege Maximo scrambled over to Quintus and grabbed her shoulders giving her a firm shake as he did. “Wake up!”

Quintus let out a displeased snarl and flailed her arms towards her shaker, slapping him in the process. “WHAT?!” She demanded.

“Quin look.” Ordered her gold and green kin. Typically, he’d only engage conversation with Quintus for a verbal spar of snark but there were moments like this where he actually needed her assessment.

His cecaelia-like kin blinked her 4 eyes at him, then at planet around her. “Well now,” She said thoughtfully. “this is an interesting development.”

“What do you think happened?” he asked.

“I think…We just found out what the Cyber Key does.”

.

.

.

“It really should’ve been obvious,” ranted Quintus “The clue was in its name all along. Cyber Key indeed! How could we have been so foolish?!” she was largely irritated with herself more than anything and the rest of her kin had decided a wide berth was the wisest thing to do.

Liege Maximo had surrendered himself to Onyx’s care. Solus was too busy pulling up bits of metal from the ground and running it through her funny little computer. Qunitus was ranting and there was no way he was going to ask Adaptus to help him straighten out his dents.

“Alright! Can you move your knee for me?” Asked Onyx setting aside a small wrench. Liege Maximo obliged moving his leg this way and that. His face wasn’t the only thing Nexus had squashed. “Does it feel alright?” asked the winged centaurian.

“Good as new!” Admittedly, Solus could’ve done a better job but Onyx was so earnest in his attempt that it was hard to disappoint him. None of the kin liked to dishearten Onyx if they could help it. He was the only one that Liege Maximo could confidently claim they all wholeheartedly liked, no rivalries or snark attached. They may be kin but that didn’t mean they always got along. Liege Maximo rose to his feet to give Onyx an affectionate pat on the head (which was a bit difficult considering Onyx’s height) then turned his head to Alpha Trion who was sitting by Alchemist. The bulkier orange mech was scribbling furiously on his tablet as he quizzed Alpha Trion (who was looking more than a little bedraggled) a bombardment of questions.

“You truly had no idea what the Key would do?” asked Alchemist for the 3rd time that conversation.

“I was wondering the same thing,” added Liege Maximo inserting himself into the conversation. When they were created each of the 13 had an idea or basic understanding of their own abilities and the function of their artifact. The fact that Alpha Trion did not know his was the source of much teasing.

Unfortunately, Alpha Trion was done entertaining his kin’s teasing “As I said before, all I knew was that the Key was not a weapon. That’s it!” he gave Liege Maximo an irritated glare for good measure

Liege Maximo raised his hands in submission “Alright alright. I was just asking. You could’ve remembered something while you were doing that little dance of yours. Nice moves by the way.”

The white bearded red-magenta purple mechanical being let out a huff of dismissal, clearly not wanting to speak to him any further. Liege Maximo on the other hand, decided to make himself a pest.

“I wonder if something different would have happened if you did do a flip,” He paused clasping his hands together. “Oh! Or if you felt happy instead of angry? Come to think of it _can_ you feel happy? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you laugh let along smile?!”

Alpha Trion narrowed his blue optics at the curved twin horned nuisance before him. Then he smiled. It was a chilling smile with an icy blank stare that sent shivers down Liege Maximos spinal strut.

“Of course. Your appearance has much humour to offer.”

Liege Maximo spluttered dumbfoundedly. And Alchemist, seeing quite clearly where this was going quickly pushed his stupefied kin away from Alpha Trion. Liege Mximo was used to the quips about his appearance from Adaptus and Nexus, but Alpha Trion? That was new and quite frankly thought impossible.

He was brought out of his stupor by an excited shriek from Solus which attracted Quintus and Alchemist who unwittingly brought him along.

“Look!” exclaimed Solus. “What _is_ it?!”

The 4, now joined by the rest of their kin crowded around the hole Solus had dug up.

“I believe it’s a cluster of wires.” Squinted Adaptus failing to see how they could possibly be of any interest.

“Yes but _why_? At first glance it looks like all the key did was transform the planet from a rocky one to a metallic one but when you crack open the surface there’s all these wires. And just feel!” Solus grabbed Adaptus’s claw like hand and held it above the group of wires. “Can you feel that? That power, that energy coursing through? The key didn’t just transmute the planet from one form to another. It turned it into a giant functioning machine!”

Onyx picked up some of the scraps of metal Solus had dug up and piled to the side “The planet’s alive?”

“I believe so! Or at least to some capacity anyway!” grinned Solus here blue eyes sparkling with excitement. Prima however did not share her excitement.

“Is it sentient?” asked Prima slowly. Solus blinked her optics at him not knowing the answer.

“We should err on the side of caution then.” decided Prima. He took a step away from the hole with Vector following close behind. The rest continued to observe the hole and listen to Solus and Quintus ramble off a number of rapidly forming theories. Liege Maximo however took note of the other two’s leave and moved as discreetly as he could so that he was within earshot of their conversation.

“You needn’t over worry yourself with every little thing.” said Vector softly.

“This isn’t little. This is…it’s too similar-”

“To the Chaos Bringer? Prima do you really believe that our origin would provide us the means to create something like that?”

“No,” admitted Prima “But to think. If this planet was inhabited and we naively changed their home. We would have destroyed an entire planets way of life. We’d have been no better than the Chaos Bringer himself!”

“But we did not.”

There was a pause between them before Prima spoke up again. “You asked if we could look into this planet specifically. That is something uncharacterised of you. Is this why?”

Vector said nothing. Prima looked away with a shake of his head. “Forgive me. I know you are not at liberty to reveal everything. But please tell me this. We didn’t create a monster, right?”

“We did not create another Chaos Bringer.”

“Then what we create then?” Prima obviously did not mean for Vector to respond and turned back to re-join his kin before they discovered their separate conversation and sulked about being left out. When he did turn, he found Liege Maximo, along with the rest of the 13 all watching attentively. Some of them now giving shifty glances to the side like a naughty child when they were discovered to have eaten an entire box of cookies before dinner.

“This was supposed to have been a private conversation!” exclaimed Prima more than a little exasperated.

“Well you should’ve moved further away then!”


	4. Down Down Down they went

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After I wrote this chapter I was unhappy with it so I redid it.

After another race around the planet, Adaptus and Nexus (now recombined to her preferred gargantuan form) reported that while a large portion of the planet had been converted to a dull golden hued metal, there were still portions of rocky landscape on certain section of the planet. Concluding the planet had only been partly ‘cyberformed’, a term coined by Alchemist. Onyx had also reported via using his Triptych Mask that the planet, while definitely alive, was alive in the same sense as to how an organic planet was alive.

This new information put Prima little more at ease that the planet was not about to transform itself into a Chaos Bringer mk II. He did however decide that a more thorough examination of the planet was in order and delegated sets of pairs and a trio to different sectors of the planet.

Quintus was paired with Nemesis, Megatronus with Prima, Vector with Alchemist, Nexus with Liege Maximo, Solus with Alpha Trion and Adaptus and lastly Onyx with Micronus. They were to meet back after a full planet rotation by the hole Solus had initially dug out exposing the wires, which was also where Adaptus had subsequently left his weird rock collection (he’d finally run out of hands).

The sector that Onyx and Micronus had been given to explore was a cyberformed part on the northern hemisphere of the planet. And like most of the transmuted planet, didn’t look remarkably different from the rest. Micronus personally felt it was a little overkill to express such caution over the change but kept it to himself.

“See anything of interest?” Asked Onyx bringing his smaller cyan passenger out of his daydream.

“No,” was Micronus’s bored reply from his companion’s back. “That’s the 46th time you’ve asked me.”

Onyx halted in his steps. “You’ve been counting?”

“We’ll there’s little else to do. The landscape is all the same.”

“Indeed…” admitted Onyx “How about I pick up the pace a little?” Micronus barely had any time to process what his kin ment before the centaurian launched forwards at a terrifying pace galloping forwards. Micronus scrambled to form a tighter hold, his short arms clinging for dear life around Onyx’s waist as the other hooted with laughter. You really couldn’t tell that the quiet docile Onyx had such a wild streak but as Micronus discovered one was never entirely as they appeared. Liege Maximo was vain and self-absorbed but also deeply cared about other’s opinions (especially in regards to his appearance). And Alchemist who appeared to be a mediator of sorts, was really mostly indifferent to problems of others and would really prefer to sweep it all under the rug so to speak if it ment a bit of peace. Micronus wondered if anyone else had caught on to that yet. Probably not, Alchemist naturally gave off a very relaxed persona.

“I see something ahead!” exclaimed Onyx as he seemed to somehow gain even more speed. His hooves thundering against the metal ground below and the idea of falling off terrified Micronus even more at the striking sound of his hooves and decided he didn’t want to think about how fast Adaptus could go. He buried his face into Onyx’s back and prayed to the stars his kin would slow down soon enough.

It could not come sooner.

Micronus didn’t register when Onyx came skidding to a stop. He was still too busy pretending he was somewhere else. He did however register an expected “Oh Dear!” from Onyx who twisted around as best he could to detach the vice grip around his waist.

“Oh Dear! I’m so sorry! I went too fast didn’t I?” Onyx held the much smaller cyan in front of him who made no effort to move. “Micronus are you alright?”

The response was a small nervous chuckle.

“Oh I’m so sorry! I get too caught up in the rush, really I do. It’s like flying and it’s the most wonderous feeling!” Onyx halted in his little speech deciding Micronus really didn’t need to be rambled at right now and cradled him close comfortingly seeing how the other needed a little bit more time to recover from the shock of travelling close to mach 2.

“Onyx,” Began Micronus shakily after he managed to regain some composure “Next time, give me a bit more time to prepare myself.” He tried to make a move to get out of Onyx arms (the fear the other would bolt into another run was real but unnecessary) but Onyx appeared not to notice Micronus’s intention or chose to ignore it.

“What do you make of this?”

Micronus wearily turned to look at the ground and wasn’t quite sure what he was looking at. There were 3? No 6? Grey squiggly lines in the ground. It was hard to make out, his head was still spinning from the race and reached out a hand to grab Onyx’s chest.

“It appears to be a crevice of sorts.” Onyx took a couple sidesteps to circle the grey squiggles by which Micronus’s vision cleared up and identified that there was only one grey squiggle. He wriggled out of Onyx’s grasp and this time Onyx released his kin. He dropped to the floor and peered curiously at the squiggle. It was a hole. They hadn’t seen a single naturally occurring hole in their entire search.

“My isn’t this exciting.” Exclaimed Onyx kneeling down to inspect the hole more closely. Personally, Micronus wouldn’t really call this exciting. One hole was generally the same as another; only this one was different. The sides of the hole were like a smooth wobbly crack, like someone had taken a knife and carved out a squiggly slice of cake. Micronus stuck his hand down reaching as far as he could go, which wasn’t particularly far.

“Seems to be a lot deeper than the hole Solus made,” he remarked. “I can feel wire lines along the sides. I wonder where they go?”

“We can find out!” decided Onyx cheerfully pulling his smaller companion away from the hole. He pawed the ground around the mouth of the hole tapping and scratching, listening to a sound only Onyx seemed to be able to hear. Then he took a step backwards and reared up on his back legs bringing them down with a tremendous stomp. Micronus let out a cry of alarm as the front half of his kin fell through the ground.

“Oh Dear!” exclaimed Onyx as if being half submerged in the ground was hardly a bother.

“Oh Dear??” cried Micronus “Are you alright?!”

“I’m fine,” Said Onyx calmly as he tried to shift himself out of the hole. “I think I’m stuck. My legs don’t reach the bottom and I think something got wedged in my lower left shoulder.”

Mirconus fussed about his kin doing his best to help lift him out of the hole. A common mistake many of his kin made was underestimating his strength. Micronus may be small but his size was a poor indication to his strength. The volatile power of the Chimera Stone granted him immense power albeit difficult to control unless he linked up his power with one of his kin’s. Only then did the energy of the Chimera Stone become stable. ‘A power for other’s Micronus had once thought to himself ‘and a no better example of the advantages of teamwork.’

Hoisting the centaurian out of the hole and checking to see he was uninjured, the pair peered down. It went deep. Little wonder Onyx couldn’t feel the bottom, the hole dropped into a deep cavern. It was hard to make out in the dark but there seemed to be small blinking lights somewhere below. “Now it’s exciting.” Said Micronus.

“Let’s go down!” said Onyx eager to explore the world under the planet’s surface.

“Hold on I think we shou—” Micronus didn’t get to finish his sentence for Onyx had scooped him up into his arms once again and jumped down down down into the darkness below.

Micronus would be ashamed to say he screamed on the way down. He’d screamed and grabbed a hold tighter to his kin in a rather unbecoming manner. At least Adaptus wasn’t there to witness it or he’d never hear the end of it and Onyx was probably the least judgmental of all his kin.

“Oh dear! I should’ve given you more warning, shouldn’t I?!”

“Yes Onyx. Yes.” Said Micronus covering his face with his hand and dragging it down his face. He looked up at the far away blob of light in the ceiling from where they’d jumped down from. It was some distance and Micronus began to worry about how they’d get back up. Onyx however seemed unconcerned or at least unaware.

“Let’s follow these lines and see where they go!”

Micronus had little choice in the matter.

.

.

.

“Where are they? They’re late,” said Liege Maximo with folded arms. “I expected tardiness from Onyx but Mirconus is usually more on top of things!” The rest of the kin had all reconvened at the hole in the ground Solus dug up and had been waiting for quite some time for their final members.

“They may be running just a little late.” Suggested Alchemist.

“But we’ve been waiting here for _aaaaggggeeees!_ ” countered the green and gold horned tactician with extended exaggeration. “They would be here already if they were just running a little late.” The tactician then looked to Prima for a solution seeing how Alchemist was offering little solution.

“Adaptus. Would you be so kind as to do a round of the planet and report any sighting of them?” asked their leader.

“Can do! May even break my speed record while I’m at it.” With that the dull golden jumble of limbs transformed and zoomed across the metallic surface.

“Now if anyone has discovered anything of interest, I believe now is the most optimum time to share it.” Decided Prima turning to the rest of his kin. As to be expected from the lack of enthusiasm, there was little to report.

.

.

.

Micronus, now once again perched on Onyx’s back watched the glowing red lines on the walls. There were also some small blinking orange and green lights at even spacing along the pipes and other segments of wire. The planet was indeed alive.

It was much more noticeable under the surface, Micronus could feel the very hum of the planet. The quiet buzz of energy and life emanating from the walls. In a way it was eerie, like being inside the belly of some giant space worm they’d seen on their travels among the stars. He had no idea what would be up ahead but was confident that if there was anything, Onyx would be quick enough to outrun it and if they couldn’t then surely together they would be able to beat it.

.

.

.

“Are you sure this is the spot?” asked Megatronus looking around the vast nothingness of the planet’s surface save the lump in the distance.

“Of course it is! Just look at the big gaping hole in the ground!?” Quintus gestured dramatically with both her arms towards the offending hole that everyone else had gathered around.

“HELLOOOO~” called Solus into the darkness below.

“Don’t hello it! You could…You could wake up whatever’s in it!” hissed Liege Maximo. Just as he said it there was a faint echoey “ _Hello,_ ” that responded to them. Solus and Liege Maximo scrambled away from the hole. “SEE! You’ve gone woken it up!” cried the spooked tactician.

“I’m pretty sure it was just an echo,” Supplied Alchemist.

 _“Hellooo~”_ the darkness within the hole called back to them immediately destroying Alchemists suggestion. Panic and tension rising among the 11 present.

“By the stars the planet can speak!” gasped Prima putting a hand over his mouth in shock.

“ _Helloooo~_ _:-)_ ”

Megatronus looked from the hole then back to his concerned kin, “I believe it’s just Onyx.”

Now that it was said, it was rather obvious the voice belonged to Onyx and the others started to feel just rather foolish for being so flighty.

“Onyx stay put! We’re coming down!” called Prima peering down into the hole.

Liege Maximo eyed the hole with a scrutinising gaze, “We’re not all going down there are we?” He asked hopefully. He wasn’t a big fan of enclosed spaced with who knows what lurking within the darkness.

“Yes we’re all going down,” replied Prima confirming Liege Maximo’s worries. “Nexus, if you please. I believe we may need a larger entrance.” He took a couple steps back gesturing with a sweeping motion of his arm that the floor was all hers.

“STAND BACK!” boomed Nexus, but her kin didn’t stand back far enough. The moment Nexus brought down her mighty fist upon the ground the entire area that the eleven of them had been standing on fractured, then shattered into tiny metal pieces causing the entire party to fall down down down into the darkness below.

.

.

.

“Oh dear! I’m sorry we worried you!”

Prima patted Onyx’s lower back in reassurance, “The important thing is that you’re both safe.” After falling down the hole they had quickly recomposed themselves, with Nexus splitting herself into her 5 components, and met up with Onyx and Micronus who were not terribly far ahead, mostly because Onyx had gotten distracted by numerous pipes questioning what was within them. At one point he was tempted to make an incision to see exactly what was within, Micronus stopped him.

“Where were you two going anyhow?” quizzed Liege Maximo, still none too happy to be in the tunnel.

“Seeing where all this,” Micronus gestured vaguely around the tunnel at the pipes and lines, “goes.”

“Ohhhh that would be an interesting thing to discover!” exclaimed Solus eager to find out what made this planet tick, or rather hum.

Adaptus, who had a growing gleam in his now 3 eyes grinned wildly, “Last one to find the end is a space worm’s rear end!” He called before zipping forwards, not at his full speed no, he’d crash in the narrow passageways if he did. Onyx, seeing the advantage the environment presented, leaped forwards, Micronus still on his back. The Nexus’s too were also eager to follow on in the game of chase but could not merge to their full form due to the low ceiling, “Curses!” one of them muttered. But it did stop the 5 of them from running after the other two + Micronus.

“So juvenile.” sneered Quintus closing her 4 optics and shaking her head as she folded her arms. He eyes were only closed for a slow blink but when she opened them again she found the rest of her kin all running off down the tunnel leaving her to claim the title of a space worm’s butt.

“HEY!” she shouted out and raced after them and hopefully pass the title to someone else.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Onyx: WEEEEEE!!! OwO  
> Micronus: D:


	5. One Core

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter onwards there is going to be a slight tone shift because believe it or not, this story has a plot.  
> anything in << >> are the Nexus's thoughts/internal conversations.

In the end it was Adaptus of all people who claimed the title of a space worm’s rear end. He’d gone a little too fast around a very sharp turn and ended up crashing into one of the walls. After his kin had swiftly made sure he was uninjured they all left him behind to race onwards and for him to catch up in his own time.

Nexus, or at least one of her 5 smaller selves smirked at him as he arrived to where the rest of his kin had convened. None of the others payed him too much attention instead fixated on the giant glowing pale-yellow orb thing in the middle of an even larger chamber. The humongous sphere being the source of the hum of energy they all felt as they travelled along the tunnel to this very room.

As expected, whenever something new appeared, Solus was there, inspecting it, measuring it, waving her weird little computer at it; the usual. Quintus, Liege Maximo and Alchemist were close behind adding their own observations and ideas to Solus’s curious ramblings. But like the staff, this was something that they found they could not gather solid data on. None of them dared to touch the orb with their bare hand, or at least all but Solus, who tried to poke it with the handle of her hammer which was swiftly yanked away by Vector who issued a warning against touching the orb overall. It wasn’t often that Vector gave such a command thus it was heeded earnestly.

“So, what exactly is this thingy?” breathed Prima as he gazed into the yellow light. By the orb Quintus groaned, “Please I thought we’d gotten past calling every unknowing thingy a thingy.” She stopped realising what she’d said, and Liege Maximo pointed a triumphant finger at her and exclaimed a very smug “HA!”

“It appears to be the planet’s core.” hypothesised Solus as she studied to Orbs dull glow. It was a strange glow, not quite so harsh that it was uncomfortable to look at but not so dim that it was difficult to see one’s surroundings. It’s light both comforting yet terrible at the same time. Nexus wanted to tear her gaze away but at the same time never look away. It was so familiar yet so strange. She looked to Prima knowing he felt the same way and saw him glance at Vector for answers, He often did that. As Nexus understood it, Vector’s ability to see all the converging and diverging pathways of time made him a walking cheat sheet to create the perfect future; why wouldn’t Prima look to him for answers? What she couldn’t understand thought, was why Vector didn’t just tell them the best path to the future and save them all the trouble? Save Prima the stress of wondering if he was doing the right thing. She hated seeing Prima worry, he worked too hard and cared too much for him to stress as much as he did. But their far gazing kin had resigned himself to the back of the chamber signifying he had nothing left to input to the conversation for now. Nexus thought about grabbing him in her combined form and shaking him until he divulged all his secrets.

_< <That’d be cruel. Besides Prima wouldn’t approve.>>_

She brushed the voice aside.

The Nexus that was closest to the giant orb approached it curiously, she could feel the frustration her other components felt towards Vector and the frustration at not being able to pinpoint the unidentified familiar aura of the orb that they were all sure they knew.

_< <I know this! I know I know this, but I don’t know it at the same time?!>>_

_< <Then you don’t know it.>>_

_< <Oh shush! You know what she means!>>_

_< <UGHH! Arguing already? It’s so much more peaceful when we are whole.>>_

The Nexus standing by Prima would have rolled her optics if her visual feed wasn’t an optic band. She never knew how to explain her relationship regarding her other components; as one they were Nexus and individually, they still felt like Nexus? Adaptus had tried to see if there was any way to distinguish the miniature Nexuses but very quickly found little to differentiate themselves. Apparently, it was as Adaptus put it, ‘Freaky’ that they all seemed to share some sort of hive mind.

_< <Hey look that didn’t take long. Liege Maximo and Quintus are arguing again.>>_

_< <They always argue. I think that’s how they show affection to one another.>>_

_< <I wish they’d drop it, it’s not like they’re going to make anything productive of it. Besides, Prima hates seeing us argue and it’s annoying to listen to.>>_

_< <Are we not arguing right now?>>_

_< <We are not arguing, we are discussing.>> _

_< <I wish we could get out of this cave! I hate being smaller than Adaptus!>>_

_< <I don’t really mind being smaller, it can provide an insightful perspective on occasion, but I agree it is more comfortable to be our full self.>>_

It truly was much more comfortable to be their gargantuan self. When they were, they didn’t have to deal with all the individual voices invading one another’s headspace.

 _< <You know what I believe it feels like?>>_ said one of the Nexuses referring to the energy emanating from the golden orb, _< <It feels like when we are whole.>>_

_< <Now that you mention it…It sort of does…>>_

_< <Indeed. It feels like…life? If that make sense?>>_

_< <Should we say something?>>_

“AH-HA!” a triumphant cry from Quintus disturbed Nexuses internal conversation with themselves.

 _< <Seems like she may have figured out something.>>_ remarked The Nexus standing closest to the orb as they all collectively decided that they would not say anything about the orb feeling like life. If their realisation was true and not some silly unscientific guess, then they had full confidence that Quintus would arrive to that conclusion by herself along with some explanation to back it.

.

.

.

“Behold.” Quintus had opened the panels along her chest to reveal her very core. It was a bright pale electric blue sphere that pulsed within her, it emanated a quiet hum that one could only hear if they stood right next to her.

“Very pretty,” Said Liege Maximo flatly, “We all have one.” And indeed, they all did have one, Quintus referred to it as their ‘Life Core’, but Solus suggested a prettier poetic title of ‘Spark of Life’ which was quickly shortened to simply spark. As far as Nexus understood, it was their very source of energy and life, not quite unlike some organic’s idea of a soul except theirs was tangible. To some species they’d met it was what proved they were alive and not some pre-programmed machine.

“Don’t be obtuse!” snapped the cecaelia-like scientist, “Can’t you feel that the energy waves are of a similar nature? Our Life Core’s and this orb are almost one in the same and if you can’t feel the similarities between them—”

“Except this planet’s core is a little dormant.” Pipped up Solus cutting off her kin. Quintus’s 4 optics narrowed, “Yes. Which is why—” Quintus reached somewhere inside her chest and pulled out a yellow octahedron with tiny dark glyphs etched into the edges of the platonic solid. It hovered in her hand and was no bigger than the palm, it radiated a dim golden glow that seemed to liven everything it’s light touched. Quintus closed the panels on her chest and held it aloft, “I suggest we use this.”

Quintus’s artifact, the emberstone. Quintus had used the stone while they fought the Chaos Bringer to replenish her and her kin’s energy after the first few initial failed attempts to defeat the monster. They didn’t like talking about that string of defeats very much.

It was Prima who caught onto what Quintus was suggesting first, “You wish to awaken this planet from its dormancy?” he asked taking a step forwards, the concern in his voice obvious, “Have you not considered in doing so we could revive a more powerful being than us?” While Nexus was sympathetic to Prima’s fears, (the idea of dealing with another Chaos Bringer did not appeal to her very much thank you), she, like the rest of her kin, was getting a little weary of his paranoia. Also, she was confident that Vector would stop them from doing anything obviously stupid, besides, hadn’t Vector already said they did not create another monster? No, that wasn’t right; Vector has said they did not create another Chaos Bringer. It was the same thing though surely. He was always funny with his choice of words. Much too fussy. Much too stiff.

“Prima.”

_< <Speak of the Maker>>_

_< <Well, he is basically the ‘seer of time’.>>_

The leader of the 13 and the timekeeper himself shared a look, one of stern sureness and the other of hopeful anticipation. Prima gave in, he trusted his kin.

“Well I doubt anything of a similar structure to that of ours will be constructed. Besides only about 70% of the planet is cyberformed so even if it does it won’t be _that_ large,” remarked Quintus none too pleased with being interrupted yet again, “Anyway what was it that Vector said after we defeated the Chaos bringer? We let our Artifacts guide us or some other variant of those pretty words?”

“It is unlike you to be so hasty with your actions.” observed Liege Maximo half joking, half concerned.

“Well it’s not as if over analysing everything provided many fruitful results!” snapped Quintus who was still feeling rather put upon for not having figured out the function of Alpha Trion’s key earlier. She was far too proud to appear to be uncertain about something again so soon, “And if everyone else has no complaints then I shall just—" she turned and held out the Emberstone towards the planet’s core. Truly though, she did feel like she knew what she was doing somehow. It was like an instinct, like how when they were all brought to life by their Origin, they knew what their role and purpose was to some extent. She was having that feeling again now, this was supposed to happen.

Nexus (all of them) watched as Quintus raised the Emberstone towards the planet’s core, the one closest to Prima pulled him a couple steps back towards the mouth of the tunnel and behind her. If anything were to happen there were 5 of her and only 1 of him.

Fortunately, nothing as drastic as Alpha Trion’s key cyberforming the planet happened. The Emberstone glowed brightly, the planet’s core glowed even brighter, it hummed louder too. The Nexus in front of Prima braced herself for some form of disaster; but no explosion happened, no sonic boom of light, no dust cloud of doom. Just a wave of bright golden light filling out the circuit lines on the duller metallic gold floor creeping towards the walls. Distrustful of the approaching glowing lines Nexus backed herself and Prima away from the growing golden glow but it quickly overtook their position and continued it pathway beyond the room.

Almost at once all the circuit lines were filled with the bright yellowy glow. The soft hum from the planet core turned into a low hymn with the core itself shining brighter to a near blinging point where it held its brilliance for what felt like an agonising lifetime before dimming down. Brighter than what it was before but not blinding. The rejuvenated core humming pleasantly before them.

_< <What just happened?>>_

_< <Is everyone safe?>>_

_< <Is Vector-- >>_

_< <SHHHHH!>>_

“What in the name of the stars did you do?” asked Liege Maximo scanning the room.

_< <That’s what I just said!>>_

Quintus retracted her arm and Emberstone away from the planet core with a smirk, “Why I simply brought the planet fully to life and out of that half limbo state it was in,” she tucked her artifact back within whatever secret compartment in her torso she had pulled it out of, “Now if you don’t mind, I have a functional living planet to examine, not some dead rock.”

_< <Yeah, no thanks, she can have fun with that.>>_

.

.

.

Nexus and most of her kin had left Quintus and the rest of their nerd squad to fuss about the newness of the planet and divided into different groups to explore any potential changes to the planet. One of the 5 Nexus components tagging along with each group so that they could relay messages between the groups via their unique link. Prima didn’t want to go on a hunt for any tardy/missing kin again. This ment that one of the Nexus’s had to follow Quintus around, something her counterparts did not envy her for.

“I had a vision.”

The Nexus standing dutifully beside Prima turned her head to him for an elaboration.

“After we defeated the Chaos Bringer. The moment the blast from Megatronus’s Requiem Blaster made contact with the monster, I saw something. I do not quite know how to explain it. It was like watching different events at undisclosed moments all happening simultaneously, I thought my head was going to burst…I wonder if that’s how Vector sees things?” He added that last part with a slight laugh, but it was nervous, “I asked him about it, and he told me not to tell him what I saw. ‘ _Knowledge can be a double-edged blade,’_ he said.”

“You can tell me,” offered Nexus.

“I see no harm in it,” replied Prima slowly deciding to take her offer, “I saw, well I don’t quite know where it began.”

“What was the first thing you saw?” Whenever Nexus combined to her full self she was always overwhelmed by a flood of individual memories from her components. She found focusing on the first thought and working from there to piece together the events of memory worked best.

“I saw a blue star. Huge and bright, it grew larger turning a deep red before it collapsed and exploded in one terrible moment. I saw a wave of red-light wash over space turning every planet it met in its path a deathly red. The planets burned and turned black and cold. I heard screams, so many screams as the charred planets convened into one and from below a Shadow appeared. It reached out it’s hand and seized the planets like they were mere pebbled in its grasp and then crushed them.” Prima paused before adding “The Shadow was the Chaos Bringer; I am sure of it.”

_< <That’s pretty freaky! No wonder Prima is so worried all the time.>>_

_< <The use of the colour red is now banned until further notice.>>_

_< <I wonder if the vision was ment to be taken literally?>>_

_< <Probably not, I think if it was the Chaos Bringer he was just trying to mess with Prima.>>_

_< <Yes, that would fit his nature.>>_

_< <Why didn’t Vector want to know? Seriously he could put so many worries at easy is he simply-->>_

_< <Be quiet and let me think!>>_

The other Nexus’s, wherever they were, became quiet granting the Nexus was with Prima a slightly clearer head.

“Surely it was nothing. A futile last resort from the Chaos Bringer nothing more.”

“A last attempt at what? To spread disorder among us? What if I have somehow contracted some of his spirit? Why was I the only one who saw it? Am I a danger to you—”

Prima didn’t get to finish because Nexus backhand slapped him across the face.

“No,” She said firmly “Never think that. That’s what the Chaos Bringer wants, that’s how it wins.”

“Nexus I—”

“Do not!” she responded harshly “We were created to oppose the disorder and you were tasked with leading us. Our Origin knew the Other One’s tricks and would have surely ensured such an event which you fear to be impossible.”

_< <Is that so? Who told you that?>>_

_< <It’s called instinct. Or as some organics say, ‘thinking with your stomach’.>>_

_< <We do not have stomachs.>>_

Nexus, while having no backing to her words, truly believed them. She was wholly sure that Prima would lead then down the path of light and she’d be damned if she was to stand idle and allow Prima to have such concerning thoughts.

_< <You shouldn’t say things you have no knowledge in claiming to be true.>>_

_< <Well it makes sense doesn’t it?>>_

Ignoring the voices of her other self’s, Nexus firmly grasped Prima’s shoulders, turning him to face her. “Even on the slightest chance what you fear should come true you have us. We will stop it.”

The light blue and white being placed on of his hands over hers, “And for that I thank you.”

_< <What makes you think that we want to babysit Prima for the rest of our life?>>_

_< <You would rather we’d all be apart from everyone?>>_

_< <I’m just saying there is more to life than a self-imposed devotion.>>_

_< <Take that back.>>_

_< <Look we can have other hobbies too. Look at Solus! She’s got plenty of hobbies and she seems quite content.>>_

_< <Are you saying you are discontented?>>_

_< <No, I’m point out that I should be able to do other things that are not solely Prima oriented.>>_

_< <There is no I in Nexus. Besides having other pastimes will not allow us to carry out our duty to the most effective means.>>_

_< <What duty is that? I do not recall any other aside from defeating the Chaos Bringer? Your devotion to Prima is something you came up with all by yourself>>_

_< <That was decided together!>>_

_< <Was it really?>>_

_< <Stop arguing.>>_

_< <We cannot afford to view our selves as being greater than each other. Together we are Nexus. Individually we are nothing.>>_

_< <I know.>>_

“Shall we reconvene with the others?” asked Prima completely unaware of the thoughts and voices in Nexus’s head. The time the entire internal conversation happened was barely a moment. The Nexus before Prima showed no sign of internal conflict on her face so there was nothing to suspect either. It was not something she could easily explain anyway.

“No, not yet. Can we just stay here for a bit,” She folded her arms and gazed up at the sky, “It’s nice to have some quiet without the others sometimes.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a tricky chapter. Apologies in advance if Nexus's internal conversations were confusing. They're supposed to read a little chaotic but should be still readable.  
> The 5 Nexus’s don’t often spend much time as individual components. As such, they haven’t quite come to develop a strong individual sense of self and largely believe that they are all one in the same, which isn’t quite right. Each of the 5 Nexus’s do have a ‘unique traits’ that could be used to distinguish themselves, and when they combine, these traits all merge together making each believe that it is their own. It can be a bit messy which is one of the reasons why they prefer to exist as their combined form. But this also means that they don’t get much time to distinguish their individual beings. It’s a loop!
> 
> I was thinking about going through each Nexus individually but at this point they don't all have a strong individual personality so it would have been boring to write. They're not all quite at that level yet.


End file.
